Her Color
by ClericalCandlelight
Summary: Based on a request from my tumblr. JanTom meeting within a soulmate AU. Afraid of meeting soulmate, Janna goes with Star to a party on Mewni to feel more comfortable - to her surprise, however, a demon is about to catch her eye for the very first time. Literally.


Janna liked to keep her eyes to the ground; not exactly out of shyness or antisocial tendency, the latter being a favorite excuse of hers as to why, but out of concern as to what may happen if she ever were to look up.

She hadn't spent her entire life admiring her shoes or the pavement; rather, people's chins and necks, her vision always just low enough to avoid making eye contact with anyone else while still seeming at least a little sociable – in her own way, at least. Honestly, she couldn't understand how anyone managed to look another person in the eye, especially knowing what might happen if that person happened to be _the one._

There wasn't a single description of it happening that didn't sound unpleasant to her; to lock eyes with somebody, and to suddenly go blind to the rest of the world, everything else falling away until finally you can only see them and them alone; your soulmate. Honestly, the jury was still out on which part of the ordeal turned her off it the most – she'd like to claim it was the temporary universal blindness, but anyone she'd told it to could tell it wasn't the whole answer.

Really, Janna just couldn't imagine that she'd actually like her 'perfect' match – if she had any choice in the matter, she'd rather just avoid figuring out who it was altogether, and save herself the disappointment.

As luck would have it, it wasn't much more than a few months after she made the company of Star Butterfly that a curious fact was brought to her attention. Star was one of the few people these days that Janna could comfortably look in the eyes; both were certain neither were their soulmates, though Janna had been stunned when she first learned how Star had been sure even before their eyes had met.

As it turned out, mewmans had a different way of knowing who their soulmates were – instead of losing sight of the world for a moment, mewmans are born blind to one particular color, that which matched their soulmate's eyes. When their eyes meet with their soulmate for the first time, they would gain the color back – for as long as the other lived, at least. It was in that same conversation that she learned Star's color was green; honestly, that part wasn't what really interested her, though.

The way she saw it, if Mewni had different rules for finding your soulmate, than her soulmate had to be from Earth – so, if she got tired of looking at chins and necks, she could always just go to Mewni or something, like entering an inter-dimensional safe zone.

And today, she'd done precisely that.

When Star came to her after school with the proposition of a party in her home dimension, Janna didn't hesitate for a second; for one, any trip to another dimension is automatically cool, and second, if she was surrounded by mewmans, than she didn't need to worry about keeping her eyes on the floor.

So, with a deep breath and a sip from the glass of punch clasped in her hand, Janna lifted her head, looking ahead toward a room filled with people, unafraid of what might happen.

She liked to think she hadn't a need to rely on empowerment stuff like this, but she definitely wouldn't deny that it felt good.

One of the first people to draw her attention, of course, was the blonde princess waving to her from across the room, standing with the rest of their little entourage; namely, Marco, Pony-Head, that Star fangirl the princess seemed to enjoy entertaining and was equally cool with, she guessed, and finally, Tom. "Janna, get your butt over here!" The blonde called out, bouncing on her heels – from the look of it, she'd already managed to get herself hopped up on the punch.

Curious, as Janna hadn't spiked it until after Star got a glass.

Rolling her eyes at her friend's insistence, Janna began to make her way through the crowd of people dancing around her; each of them danced without a care in the world, seemingly oblivious to the rest of the world around them, almost like… She shook her head in refusal; she came here to get away from that sort of thinking.

Still, just a few seconds of drifting thought was an ample window for chaos to welcome itself into Janna's life.

A stray foot shot out right in front of her own before she could hope to side-step it, and a sharp cry of surprise rang through the room as Janna plummeted to the floor, her glass spilling out on the floor in a bright red puddle.

"Janna!" Star's voice gasped out. "Are you okay?"

Grunting, Janna pushed herself up off the ground, taking a knee and reaching to grab the overturned glass on the ground – luckily, it hadn't shattered. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine.." Janna mused, giving Star a thumbs up without looking. "Of all the times I wasn't looking down, right?"

"Here, let me help."

A sound like a snap rung out, and in an instant, the punch burst into flames, burning briefly before vanishing entirely. Pursing her lips as she looked at where the puddle of punch had once been, she looked up at the man who had walked over, somewhat annoyed by the unsolicited aid.

"Hey, I had it all handled myself, Tom-"

Janna blinked, the verbal end of her sentence dying on her lips as she looked up at the lilac-skinned man standing over her, his own trifecta of crimson eyes seeming to stare dead-on at her, blinking slowly in a sort of muted disbelief.

For a moment, she thought that the punch was already kicking in, as she began to notice things getting blurry behind him. She blinked again, brow furrowed, and again she saw the same thing; Tom, entirely in focus, the rest of the world a blur behind him.

The next time she blinked, she almost gasped out in shocked; this time, the blur had receded entirely, the world instead consumed in inky blackness, an empty vacuum which seemed to stretch on infinitely.

And still, she saw Tom, staring back at her in astonishment.

Curiously, there was a sensation that came along with the vision before her; a strange one, one that felt almost impossible to put into words. And still, as she looked up at Tom, it began to swell outward from her chest, bathing her in an alien warmth as their eyes met, seconds dragging into minutes as they both remained entirely silent.

It was...incredible. Incredible, and yet, so very impossible. It made no sense to her. She'd known Tom for months by now; they had to have made eye contact at some point before then. Right?

In her heart, however, she could feel it, as true to her as her own name; these red eyes were those of her soulmate.

Finally, she snapped back to focus, shaking her head to regain her senses, the world coming back into view once their gaze broke; Tom, too, shook his head, rubbing at his third eye as the others blinked wildly, almost as dazed as Janna was herself. Looking to Star and the others, Janna saw them a fully gallery of shocked expression – save for Star herself, who was beaming with excitement.

Looking back to Tom, Janna quickly rose to her feet, looking up at him with a peculiar expression; one of complete disbelief, and yet, whenever her mouth opened, she found herself entirely unable to summon any of the angry words swirling around in her mind – like it was impossible to deny that she had finally found him. She felt her hands trembling as she looked into his eyes again, heart racing; she could feel it, and she knew he could probably feel it too.

"So.." Tom finally spoke, a little dumbfounded as he met Janna's gaze, lips pulling into an amused smirk in an attempt to mask how much he was freaking out on the inside.

"So what?" Janna frowned, putting her hands on her hips, eyes drifting away; even still, she could feel her gaze being drawn back to him.

" _That's_ what brown looks like?"

She stopped, blinking in surprise at his comment. Of all the things he could possibly say, anxiety hanging on the edge of every word...and instead, he was admiring a new color for the first time.

Her color.

Taking a deep breath, Janna came closer, her eyes falling shut as she wrapped her arms around Tom, giving her soulmate the first genuine hug she'd given a long, long time.

"Demon soulmate, huh?" She mumbled against his chest, keeping him close. "Cool."


End file.
